Bleached Emotions
by Tay M. Alexiel
Summary: A Mystery Tournament is being held and a team has risen the ranks and is now fighting in the big leagues. The Bladebreakers have split since BEGA and now, they must regain their teams and fight, not only for the championship, but also for their interests. On Hiatus.
1. Prologue

"Is she almost ready?" the scientist asked.

"My daughter will be ready when she feels she is ready," the doctor answered, his eyes never leaving the window looking into the lab.

"She was the perfect candidate," the scientist said, grinning. "Thank you for letting us use her."

The doctor, Dr. Inali, nodded, his mind barely hearing the scientist. Most of his concentration was on his daughter, hooked up to monitors and an oxygen mask, sleeping peacefully.

"Oh, and thank you for letting us use your technique. It proved very useful."  
"Mr. Adams," Dr. Inali said, taking his eyes away from his daughter and looking at the scientist. "I hope you didn't use this "technique" on anyone other than my daughter. She's the only one who could withstand the changes."

Mr. Adams shook his head. "No, we only used it on your daughter. We modified it for our other experiments."

Dr. Inali sighed. "I told you not to... This means I have to steal the data..."

"Oh no, sir. You don't have to do that," Mr. Adams panicked. He didn't want this technique taken away from him. It worked so well.

"If you've used any modifications of my "technique", then I cannot allow you to go on with this experiment."

Mr. Adams opened his mouth, but Dr. Inali interrupted him.

"I will tear down your company, make you a disgrace and a mental wreck, with your own, no... my creation. You'll just have to find another "technique". Kasumi and I are leaving.

"But, Dr. Inali...!" Mr. Adams began, but the doctor had already begun to walk away.

At the door to the observation room, he stopped.

"I will take him down, your help or not."

Mr. Adams's surprise was apparent in his features. "You mean...?!"

"I will create another system you can use on regular people."

"Oh sir...! Thank you very muc..."

"As soon as I beat Mr. Granger."

"Yes, yes. Of course, your life-long goal... blah, blah, blah."

Dr. Inali turned sharply to look at Mr. Adams. "Don't make me regret this, because then you will too."


	2. Chapter I

**Chapter I**

**Wow... that was a lot of words! Anyways...**

The stadium lights were bright, but since her hood was up, they didn't really bother her. Her team behind her, she walked to the platform. Captain and the most powerful of her team, she grinned as she and her team were introduced.

ESP. Elemental Storm Persona.

Aiden had come up with it.

The crowd erupted into cheers as ESP was presented. She grinned, enlarged canine teeth showing.

"Are you happy?" Esen leaned over and whispered into her ear.

"No."

"Then why are you smiling?"

"She's excited to be in this tournament. She'll get to fulfill her father's life-long dream," Erion said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Can you introduce your team?" DJ Jazzman asked, pushing the microphone into her face. "ESP is a new team and we don't know anything about you. Please say something."

"We come from Mars. We have green skin and ESP," Glyn muttered in a robotic voice and Esen laughed, her hand covering her lips in a polite gesture.

The captain smiled, showing those fierce teeth. "We are ESP. This is Aiden, Glyn, Erion, Esen and my name is Kasumi," she introduced each member by pointing to them with her whole hand. Her movements were fluid, almost lazy.

Her arm that indicated each person was decorated with a long, green-ish sleeve with gold embroidery. A black glove without the fingers engulfed her hand. While her hand was outstretched, those closest to her could see the shirt reached her middle thigh and black cargo pants with many pockets around her legs. Her shoes were a black boot with red roses patched on.

Still, no one could see her face. It remained hidden under the hood of her cloak.

Tyson and his team sat on the bench, watching as ESP walked down the platform stairs. He and the other teams had been presented before; ESP was the last team.

"Look at how they carry themselves," Hiro said.

"They think they're superior," Daichi said, with distaste.

"No, not necessarily," Kenny muttered.

"What do you mean? Why else would they be so snotty?"

"We've never met them. We can't judge them yet," Tyson said. That name; Kasumi, sounded familiar.

"What's gotten into him?" Hilary asked Hiro who shrugged.

"He's been strange lately. He keeps talking about some strange dreams he's been having..." Hiro turned to look at his little brother with worry. "He's also been training a lot recently."

"Doesn't he always train?" Hilary asked.

Hiro shook his head. "After BEGA, he stopped for a while, then he got this letter and started to get serious again."

"Who was the letter from?" Kenny asked.

Hiro shrugged. "He never told me, nor would he let me see it."

"Did he say what is was about?" Daichi asked.

Hiro shook his head. "No."

Tyson heard the conversation, but paid no attention to it. He was intent on watching Kasumi. She and her team had walked down the platform stairs and to the bench that was designated for them. Looking around, he saw Max, Ray and Kai looking in ESP's direction as well.

Did they get letters too?

No, his had a more personal tone to it. However, they could have gotten a letter, but not with the same content as his.

Tyson thought about asking ESP, but that might give an impression that he didn't want given.

Across the stadium, Kai watched ESP closely. They might pose a greater threat that Tyson.

Kai scoffed. No one was better than Tyson. Not even himself. Somehow, each time, the world champion would squeeze a victory out of the very air that everyone breathed.

"What do you think?" Tala asked.

Kai shrugged. "They could be dangerous. But, we'll have to see." He watched as Kasumi sat down, crossed her fingers and rest her forehead on her thumbs.

"This is the Mystery Tournament!" DJ Jazzman exclaimed once ESP had taken their seats. "This means that where we go will be determined by the outcomes of the matches here in Florida, USA. It is also a mystery who will face who at what time. Teams may face each other more than once, and we may go to more than five places to beybattle."  
"Then how do we determine the winner?" Ray asked his team.

Mariah shushed him. "Maybe he'll explain."

DJ Jazzman continued. "The winner will be determined by how many wins a team has. The least amount of games will be six; if one team can go undefeated. Then, the captain of that team will face off against the world champion in a 1-on-1 battle. As for the "prelims", they can be fought any way."

Esen giggled softly and Erion looked at her.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

Esen shrugged and closed her eyes, turning away from Erion. "Does it matter?" she asked.

Kasumi held up a hand and Esen and Erion quickly shut their mouths. Her eyes still closed, Kasumi returned to crossing her fingers before her lips. She looked to be praying.

"What is she doin'?" Rick asked.

Max shrugged. "How am I supposed to know?" he asked, a little irritated.

"Let's not fight," Michael said, stepped between Max and Rick.

"Don't worry about me. Worry about the puffball on your other side," Max said, his irritation growing.

Rick growled, but a look from Michael shut him up.

"There's no use fighting now. It'll only distract from the team," Michael reasoned and Max nodded absently. His gaze was focused on the other female in ESP; Esen. She was talking with another boy, and their discussion was getting heated, again.

"How would you know?" Esen asked, a fire in her voice.

Erion started to say something, but his eyes went wide as Kasumi stood.

"Discuss this later," she said, her voice icy. "And not in front of a crowd." She didn't turn to face them, but walked over to the platform and her hooded head looked up at DJ Jazzman.

"How will this tournament start? Who faces who in the beginning?"

"Good question. Will the team captains of ESP, PPB Allstarz and White Tiger GX please come forward and draw from this hat."

Ray and Max looked at their respective teammates and walked over to join Kasumi.

Tyson growled. He was hoping that he would be able to get a close up look at Kasumi's face.

Ray reached the hat first and drew out a slip of paper. Opening it, he stared at the name written on it. Then, he returned to his team and they began to discuss what to do. They were going to face F-Dynasty.

Max went next and pulled out the Blitzkrieg Boys. He sighed and walked back to his team.

"Who'd we pick?" Rick asked. "Who do we get to pummel first?"

"Kai's team," Maz said, his eyes downcast.

Michael gulped, but Rick looked half-excited. Payback time.

Kasumi was last and she drew the last team there was, BBA. She laughed a little and walked back to her team. "BBA," she said, before anyone could ask. "Who wants to go?"

"Depends on who they send out to face us."

"It seems that the PPB AllStarz will face the Blitzkrieg Boys. White Tiger GX will face F-Dynasty and ESP will face BBA. Team please return to your locker rooms and wait until the times for each match are determined."

Kasumi nodded and she and her team walked off into the hallway leading to the locker rooms. They were followed by F-Dynasty and the Blitzkrieg Boys.

Kai was now extremely interested in this Kasumi character. She seemed, extraordinary, to put it lightly. Somehow, he was drawn to her. She showed no fear; or so it seemed.

The first locker room was for F-Dynasty, who entered and closed the door. Then, it was ESP. Kai hurried to the door in time to hear something before the door closed. What he heard disturbed him. His suspicions were also confirmed; or so he thought.

"What did you hear?" Tala asked, coming up behind Kai.

"Nothing. It was muffled," Kai lied and walked on.

In the locker room, Kai mulled over what he had heard. It could have several meanings, and which one she was talking about, was escaping him.

Kasumi smiled.

"You do know that Kai heard that," Erion said as the door closed.

Kasumi nodded. "Yes. I know. It was not intentional, but if he did hear it, it didn't matter."

Aiden smiled slightly. Kasumi was very smart. Far beyond her years. She could think outside the box; even if it was three dimensional with different floors and rooms.

"What difference does it make?" Esen asked.

"Psychological," Glyn answered.

"But, I didn't intend for him to be consumed by it," Kasumi said. "Just throw him off a little."

"He may be consumed by it, whether you intended it or not," Aiden pointed out.

Kasumi shrugged. "Yeah, I understand that."

They turned to the screen which had buzzed into life.

"It's DJ Jazzman, and I'm here to bring you the latest coverage of the first battle of the Mystery Tournament! The first battle will pit BBA against the underdogs which rose from below, ESP!"

Kausmi sighed. "So, we're deciding when we see who goes who?"

The group nodded and they exit the locker room and entered the arena.

"ESP is a group from the depths of some unknown, tiny place somewhere in the world," DJ Jazzman said, reading from a paper.

Esen and Glyn laughed out loud and this threw the DJ off slightly. But he recovered.

"They beat The Majestics, who wanted to come back into the finals after last year of being beaten by Barthez Battalion. They are a completely unknown team. And on the other side of the stadium, we have BBA, with the world champion, Tyson!"

Kasumi growled, but held it to a mininum. Rolling her eyes she waved a hand to get the game underway.

"ESP seems to be edgy so, we'll begin by the captain from each team stepping forward to decide on how they will battle.

Kasumi scoffed and walked forward.

Tyson bit his lip. Now was his chance! He stepped forward and met Kasumi as they reached the top of the platform.

"Do I know--" Tyson began, but Kasumi looked at him. The light reflected off her eyes, making her appear spookier than ever.

"I don't care how we battle, two-on-two or one-on-one; doesn't matter to me. Just pick so we can get the battles underway." Her voice was soft and dangerous.

Tyson took that as a sign not to ask his question at the moment. "We battle one-on-one," he said, and Kasumi nodded.

"Fine by me," she said and turned her back and walked off.

Tyson stood there for a moment, but recovered and returned to his team as DJ Jazzman announced that the battles would be one-on-one.

"Well, Daichi. You should go first so that we can get a feel of their power," Tyson said and sat down on the bench. He had a lot to think about.

Daichi nodded. "Okay." Walking forward, he reached the platform and waited for ESP to choose a 'blader.

Finally, a figure parted from the group and walked up the stairs and to the dish.

"This dish is a model of the wetlands of Florida," DJ Jazzman said.

"Who am I facing?" Daichi asked.

"Aiden," the boy said. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

"You aren't in a whole new league from me. I've improved from the last time!"

Aiden scoffed. "Really? 'Cause from what I can tell, you haven't budged a bit."

Daichi was about to respond when Tyson's voice cleared his head.

"Don't let him play games with your mind. Just concentrate on the match!"

Nodding, Daichi understood. "Okay," he muttered and began to load his launcher.

Aiden's cloak rustled and the DJ called out; "Three - Two - One - Let it rip!"

Daichi screamed as he pulled his rip cord and his blade when flying into the dish.

Aiden did nothing, but threw his cloak from his shoulders and sent his own blade into the ring.

He was dressed in earthy colors; like he was going to blend into the surroundings. His blade didn't seem all that powerful, in flight. Once it hit the ground, Daichi felt a new power growing. He began to shake.

"Aw, did I scare you?" Aiden asked. "I haven't even started yet!"

"N-No! You didn't s-scare me," Daichi said, trying to stop his teeth from chattering.

Aiden smiled. "I beg to differ."

Tyson's words flooded back into Daichi's mind and he shook his head, clearing the fog that had appeared. He opened his eyes and saw that Strata Dragoon was in trouble.

"Spike Saw!" he called out and Strata Dragoon began to respond.

Aiden smirked. Just the move he was looking for.

"Eukandayo!" he screamed. "Wild Tremors!"

Before Strata Dragoon could gain stable ground to start the attack Daichi had called out, the earth began to tremble and shake. Craters appeared in the dish and Strata Dragoon was caught in one.

"No!" Daichi screamed. "Come on, Strata Dragoon!"

"It's took late," Aiden whispered. "Eukandayo!"

A great eagle erupted from Aiden's bit and swarmed at Strata Dragoon. It was huge!

"They must have copied from the Majestics!" Tyson said rather loudly.

Hiro shook his head. "I doubt that."

"Why?" Kenny asked.

"Because, if you look closely at Aiden, he looks like he came up with this himself. He's been training hard. Or he had an excellent master."

Kenny and Hilary had to agree with Hiro.

The bog soon began to fill the hole that Strata Dragoon was stuck in.

Daichi looked up from the battle to Aiden, to find the boy looking up, his hands parallel to the ground.

"Hear me, great gods of Celtica," he whispered, so that only Daichi heard.

Something whizzed passed Daichi's ear and he ducked in time for the blade to miss his face.

"He dropped his concentration for just a second, and he was sent from the ring!" Tyson said, jumping to his feet.

"That shows how much discipline they have been taught," Hiro said.

"And the point goes to ESP's Aiden with a stunning and quick victory over BBA's Daichi."

Daichi approached his team with his head down in shame. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Tyson said, surprising Daichi. He was sure that Tyson would say something else, a little more discouraging.

"Yes. Tyson is right, Daichi. There's no need to worry. We didn't prepare enough. We had no idea what we were up against. And Aiden might be the most powerful on their team... so we can't make hasty judgments about the rest of ESP," Hiro reasoned.

Daichi nodded and sniffed.

Aiden reached his team and clapped high-fives and hugs.

"Good job!" Erion said, smiling.

"Eh... could have been better," Aiden said. "If he had given me more time, then I could have really sent him flying!"

Kasumi coughed up a laugh. "Always so appropriate," she commented, and Aiden scowled.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Kasumi shrugged and went back to her seat on the bench.

In the locker rooms, Kai was on his feet. D-Did he just see what he thought he saw?!

"They ARE powerful," Mariah said, her voice shaky.

"That's only one of the team. He might be the strongest and they sent him out to mess with us," Tala reasoned with his team. However, even he looked shaken.

"Yeah, but look at them!" Kevin said, pointing to the screen that now showed ESP. They seemed... a little edgy. Like something was out of place.

Was it what she had said? Kai thought back to the phrase that he had heard Kasumi speak and thought that it might have something to do with this.

_"Be careful."_


End file.
